Saturday, October 31, 2009

The BIL:PIL unconference: Challenges and opportunities

Yesterday and today I have been privileged to attend the BIL:PIL "unconference" in San Diego, organized by Jonathan Sheffi and colleagues. Yesterday was awesome with amazing speakers and brilliant ideas. For someone who is used to hard data presentations to and from physicians and scientists, it is great to get out of that silo and see what the rest of the world is thinking about the challenging state of healthcare. Some of the speakers dazzled us with new more efficient approaches to drug development, while others took us on futuristic voyages of the brain's dark matter, artificial intelligence and the promise of stem cells. I cannot wait to hear today's presentations -- tickles my brain just to think of all the new stuff I am learning! It is also neat to meet and rub elbows with such luminaries as Val Jones (speaking today at noon PST) and Gregg Masters, who are not just smart and eloquent, but also really delightful people.

Today I get to give my "untalk". Just by way of a preview, very little of what I will be talking about is new. In fact, when I was putting it together, I tried to look up the antonym of "innovation". Guess what? There is not one in the English language. So, I will have to call myself something else, since, though creative, I certainly do not rise to the ranks of the brilliant innovators I stand beside. At the same time, I believe my approach will bring something valuable to the table. Perhaps I need to come up with an adequate moniker that describes my philosophy. Wait, I think I've got it! But I think I'll wait to unveil it during my talk. It is at 3:00 PM PST and you can see the live stream here. See you at BIL:PIL!

Welcome and a disclaimer

Welcome to my blog, "Healthcare, etc."! In this blog I take the perspective of a researcher/policy wonk rather than an individual healthcare practitioner. Therefore, all opinions that I express and generalizations that I make about any issues will in no way be construed as medical advice for individual visitors / readers. All views expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent opinions of any organizations with which I am affiliated. I welcome all comments, but reserve the right not to publish paranoid or abusive rants or overt marketing pitches.

About Me

I am an independent physician health services researcher with a specific interest in healthcare-associated complications and a broad interest in the state of our healthcare system. I am also a professor of Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
I am frequently invited to speak about evidence-based medicine, methods and healthcare-associated complications.
My posts have been syndicated on The Health Care Blog, KevinMD,The Healthcare Collective and other sites. They have also been cited in the New York Times. Occasionally you can also find me blogging on the British Medical Journal blog site http://www.doc2doc.bmj.com
If you would like to contact me about my research, blog posts or speaking, please e-mail me at Healthcareetcblog@gmail.com